


Fortune Cookie Predictions

by MaskofCognito



Series: Alternative Nano Challenge [3]
Category: Castle (TV 2009)
Genre: Alternative Nano Challenge, Get together fic, M/M, One Shot, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 19:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21307355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaskofCognito/pseuds/MaskofCognito
Summary: Where Ryan gets shot while they chase a hitman, and Esposito finally acts on those tightness of chest feelings he gets when he looks at Ryan.
Relationships: Javier Esposito/Kevin Ryan, rysposito - Relationship
Series: Alternative Nano Challenge [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1534499
Comments: 4
Kudos: 66





	Fortune Cookie Predictions

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Assassin

"So, let's refresh." Beckett moves from her desk to the murder board and Castle, Ryan, and Esposito all follow her. "We know our victims are Sandra Pullock, Benjamin Fossil, and Sean Talbot. Their link is the same .308 Winchester ammunition and high security clearance in fields that are working on new stable energy tech that could put our current energy generating capabilities into the stone age. Someone didn't want that information getting out. All three scenes were clean, professional. We have a hit man out there and we need to know who he's working for."

"Or she," Ryan posits. 

"Or she," Beckett corrects. "We have the lab working on the angles of trajectory to see if we can narrow down a height from the three shots. I want us all to get a good night's rest and meet back in the morning. Ryan, I want you and Esposito to look into the financials of the three victims and their institutions. Castle and I will go interview their workplaces to see if we can narrow down any clues or potentially root out any moles."

"Okay!" Castle claps his hands as he rises from the edge of the nearest desk. "Dinner, Beckett?"

Beckett ignores him as she reaches for her jacket, Castle trailing behind her to the elevator before they disappear behind the doors.

Ryan looks to Esposito. “Madden and Chinese?”

“What better way to clear our minds?”

“Beer?”

They both laugh, grab their coats, and make their own way to the elevator.

* * *

Esposito tosses the remote onto the couch next to Ryan. “Cheater. Beer?”

Ryan laughs and tosses a fortune cookie at Esposito’s head. “Yeah.”

They both break into their own baked origami, Ryan eating the cookie and Esposito saving his for Ryan when he gets back to the couch. He takes two bottles from the fridge, uncaps them, and hands one and the cookie to Ryan.

“What’dya get?” Esposito asks.

“Your work is valuable. The morning brings with it new light to assist you on your ventures. You?”

Esposito plops down, glugs from his beer and reads his. _ Thinking is good, but too far in thought, nothing will change. _ He tosses it to Ryan. “Rubbish.”

Ryan reads it and stays silent while Esposito grabs the controller and pushes at buttons to start a new round, only waiting for Ryan to okay his selection.

“Hmm… I don’t know. Maybe tomorrow is a big day.” Esposito looks at Ryan, his blue eyes twinkling. Esposito’s heart pumps a little faster and his chest feels a tad tighter.

“Yeah, right.”

* * *

“DUDE!” Esposito hurries from the printer to Ryan’s desk. “Take a look.”

Ryan scans the documents quickly, moving from one page to the next. “All three institutions were getting government funding. What’s so weird?”

“Not that. This,” Esposito points to debits to the accounts. “Here. Each institution got funding, but slowly, that funding was being funneled out. We need to know where that money is going. That’s too much at once to be costs.”

“Hmm… let’s see if we can trace where it went.”

After lunch, the four of them all meet back at the station, Castle having picked up some food on their way back. They catch each other up on their progress and it’s looking more and more like the three institutions all had a similar politician taking interest in their work and talking to the big wigs.

By the end of the day, they are pretty certain that Senator Hansen is central to the investigation. The murder board points directly to him. But they still need more information before they can go after someone so high profile. Hunches alone can cost jobs without substantial proof. 

* * *

Ryan and Esposito make a night of it, again. This time at Esposito’s. 

They grab some Italian from a mom and pop shop down the street and throw out a few ideas about the case in between playing rounds.

The distraction with work means they both suck at the game when only paying half attention as their brains start churning on each other’s ideas. 

“Of course!” Ryan yells and his controller slips from his lap as he stands abruptly. He grabs at his phone and dials Beckett, putting her on speaker. 

“Beckett,” she answers.

“Wasn’t there something in the news lately about oil and gas lobbyists getting caught for massive bribes that go beyond the legal loopholes? Two of them were arrested just last month, right?” Ryan paces back and forth between the coffee table and the couch, his pants brushing against Eposito’s occasionally. Esposito leans back in happiness and watches his partner. 

“Right. And if we can find a way to link Senator Hansen to one of those lobbyists, and them to interests in conflict with our companies, we’ve got clear motive and bribery. That would be enough to get a warrant to search all his belongings to find out who he hired to put a hit on our three victims.”

“Ryan and I can request access to the senators finances in the morning to see if we can get anything to stick.”

“Do that. Castle and I will see if we can find out where the oil and gas lobbyists frequent and see who has had contact with Senator Hansen recently. We will bring them in for questioning as soon as we narrow them down.”

“Sounds good,” Ryan and Esposito both say and Ryan disconnects the call. 

Ryan has the biggest smile on his face and Esposito’s heart alights again. He might need to get that checked out.

* * *

After bringing in four of the suspected lobbyists, they think they finally have the culprit. The Captain issues a warrant and Ryan starts in on the Senators personal financials. 

Two hours later, they have enough to convict two lobbyists and the Senator. But they are looking for the hitman, or woman, before they bring it all to a head. It would suck ass if they let go of someone who helped make lobbyists and politicians line their pockets easier. 

And four hours later, Beckett, Castle, Ryan, and Esposito all head to a studio apartment in East Harlem. It’s tiny, but Ryan and Esposito stay back toward the fire exit while Castle and Beckett head up to knock on the door. They anticipate a run and everyone is armed (except for Castle) and wearing their vests.

Ryan and Esposito quibble over whether it will be a man or woman who appears when they hear shouts from above. Both of them swing their guns toward the noise and a lithe figure starts parkouring down the fire escape. She’s clad in black with leather gloves and a toboggan concealing the suspects hair. 

“I win,” Ryan mentions quickly as they both jump into action, prepared at separate ends of the alley to catch her wherever she intends to go.

Unfortunately for them, she whips out a short ranged pistol and shoots Ryan in the arm.

“KEVIN!” Esposito runs to his side, checks where he’s been shot quickly, before swinging around and watching as their culprit disappears over the top of the building. She had apparently jumped from the railing onto a window frame and climbed her way up. 

Castle and Beckett yell at them from above, “You okay?”

Esposito doesn’t reply, instead moving to look at the offending wound and checking how bad it actually is. Kevin hits his hand away and hisses at him. “Shit. That stings, be easy.”

“Shut it. What you get for getting shot.” He prods at it more, deeming it not lethal and sighing deeply in relief. 

“Just as easily could have been you, asshole— “

“But it wasn’t,” Esposito cuts him off and crushes him to his chest in a hug. “Scared the fuck outta me. Don’t you ever get shot again, got it?”

He thinks he can feel Kevin smiling against his shoulder as he nods slightly and mumbles out a “yes, mom.”

* * *

Ryan gets stitched up at the hospital and Esposito waits nearby. Castle and Beckett put an APB out as they had a better look at their suspect and finally got a name. A recent sniper for hire, AWOLed from the military two years ago, Kelly Baxton. They are following a few more leads and have back-up on their heels as they attempt to catch her before she leaves the Manhattan area. 

Meanwhile, Esposito is simmering on the many words he wants to have with Ryan, even knowing they might never come out when they are finally alone enough to not risk embarrassment past his best friend.

The nurse finishes stitching the wound and gives Ryan a painkiller to knock back. She says she will be back in an hour to check on him and if he is good after that, she’ll let him fill out his release forms and head home.

Esposito plops in the chair nearby, letting out a heavy sigh.

Ryan stares at him, he can feel it. “What?”

“You owe me twenty bucks and dinner is on you tonight.”

“You’re still on that?” Esposito finally looks at Ryan. He’s got a big grin, but it’s slowly deflating. “You could have gotten hurt way worse today.”

“And it could have been you instead of me,” Ryan challenges, “but that didn’t happen. If we want to learn from this and keep it from happening again, perhaps we should come up with ways we could have better handled the situation rather than dwelling on what did happen, right?”

Esposito looks away. He’s pouting and he knows it. Ryan is right and it hurts his ego. He’s just… so damn concerned. He could have lost his best friend out there today. Luckily it was only a knick. Nothing dangerous. At most, Ryan will be on light duty for a week while his shoulder heals. Esposito gets up and paces the small curtained area. 

“What is it?” Ryan insists. “Don’t let your words stew. I won’t know what’s going on if you don’t spit it out.”

“It’s,” Esposito raises his hands and throws them down at his sides, spinning around and facing Ryan in his hospital bed. The thin gown looks ridiculous on him. But his blue eyes shine under the fluorescent light. “How do you do that?” He whispers out, not aware he spoke the words aloud.

“Do what?”

“That,” he points and moves closer, “with your eyes.”

Ryan grins, seemingly unaware of the effect it has. Esposito is close enough and he lays a hand on Ryan’s. “You scared the shit out of me, Kev.”

The smile slips. “I bet. But,” his mouth ticks up again, “I’m not afraid as long as you are there by my side.”

Esposito’s body moves on it’s own, the fortune cookie from the other night coming back and playing loops in his head about taking action. Their lips collide and it seems like the most natural thing in the world. Like they always do this, always have. Their foreheads bump as they pull away and they both smile, fingers intertwining where their hands were only touching moments before. And for once, Esposito silently thanks whoever makes those stupid fortune cookies.

When the nurse returns and Ryan signs out, they both go back to Ryan’s place. He has the nicer bed and Esposito wants to look out for him for the next week. 

He starts cataloguing the ingredients he’ll need to pick up for some of his mom’s recipes when his phone rings. It’s Beckett, so he moves to the couch where Ryan is sitting, watching the news, and puts it on speaker phone.

“Esposito.”

“Is Ryan there with you?” Beckett asks.

“Yeah, right here,” Ryan chimes.

“Good. We’ve got her. And we have all the evidence we need to bring in the politician and the two lobbyists. Job well done.”

Ryan and Esposito share a smile and a high-five, proud of their team.

“I talked to the Captain. She’s giving you both two days leave.”

“Why me?” Esposito questions. He didn’t get hurt. He should be there when they start processing the sniper.

“She thinks it best that Ryan gets some rest. When he comes back, he’ll be on light duty for a week. And Espo, she thinks you need a day or two to process what happened. You were pretty wound up back then. She says you need to cool off before you come back in and start making a mess of what we wrapped up.”

Ryan grins at him and snickers a bit, jabbing Esposito in the ribs with his elbow a bit. Annoyed, Esposito pushes him away, forgetting about his shoulder as Ryan hisses and Castle interrupts over the phone.

“Once you two love birds come back to us, know that the entire precinct has been betting on whether you were together or not. And Beckett and I are collecting on that bet in the morning. You might want to wear your unaffected faces.”

“Castle! Decorum.”

“Decorum-smorum. They will find out eventually. Better from us now. Anyway, might as well get on with it as everyone knows about you two.”

The line disconnects and Ryan and Esposito blink at each other. They only just admitted silently their own feelings to each other. How the hell did the precinct know? Ryan shrugs, grins and pushes Esposito. He falls back on the couch, and before he can say anything, Ryan has him pinned and his mouth more than happily occupied. 

_ Action. Much better than thought, _ he thinks. And in the back of his mind, behind all his protectiveness over his partner, he thanks the sniper in a small part. 

But, he’ll still see her behind bars.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to write for Nano and commit to 50k when I know that a) I'm not great at long story commitments, and b) my life is a bit busy. However, I didn't want to NOT write this month. So, I decided to commit to a prompt a day for the month of November of whichever fandom I enjoy which gives the prompt the most spark. I'm using [this](https://n7month.tumblr.com/post/188450175349/n7-month-challenge) prompt list I found from tumblr, in case anyone wants to reference it or join in.


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